New Video Game Engine, Xenko, coming in April

Move over Unity and Unreal, a new video game engine is coming to town and its name is Xenko.

After undergoing nearly two years of beta testing, a new video game engine developed by Silicon Studio Corporation in Tokyo, Japan will be making its debut in April. Xenko is an open source engine designed for developing teams of all sizes and styles from AAA to indie and mobile.

What makes Xenko different from other video game engines is that it is currently the only commercial engine that supports the latest C# (a multi-paradigm programming language). The engine also has a built-in prefab system and scene streaming system that allows developers to store, reuse and review deigns (development streamlining scene editor). The engine will even launch with a complete set of tools, including a particle editor, script editor, PBR material editor, a full asset pipeline and more.

“I ported the game from Unity engine over a year ago because I find Xenko’s API and software architecture to be far superior,” said Mark Aherne, creator of the upcoming game Universe of Nothing in a press release. “The added benefits of the engine being written entirely in C#, and having access to the source code, just make it a complete winner for me.”

Silicon Studio is even future proofing their Xenko engine for VR so that developers will use Xenko as a future reference and go-to for VR development in their games. Xenko has a built-in 3D audio support system, global illumination, Forward+ rendering support, full support for Vulkan and an advanced rendering set with an intuitive user interface.

Silicon Studio is a Japanese middleware and game engine company that works with rendering, optical effects and post-effects solutions for game developers. Silicon Studio also publishes games across all platforms and publishes non-gaming applications for third parties.

“The decision to move from middleware to a full game engine was actually a fairly easy one for us,” said Terada Takehiko, CEO of Silicon Studio in a press release. “We were in a position to address some of the complaints developers have about the other commercial game engines on the market, and from there we began to see what developers of the future will need to be successful, including VR and mobile support.”

The Xenko engine will be on display at GDC at Silicon Studio’s booth and will be available for purchase on Silicon Studio’s website.